Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Week 7

The CAEBER sounds like an awesome program. I had never heard of it until I went to complete this assignment. From the research I did it seems to be a program that teachers attend and at the end they are qualified to be on-site ASL/English Bilingual Professional Development (AEBPD) mentors at their respective schools/programs. According to www.gallaudet.edu CAEBER promotes a national collaborative effort among educators, parents, and researchers who work together to respond to the educational needs of deaf and hard of hearing children through these strategies

  • Promotion of the appropriate use of scientifically research-based language planning in educational settings
  • Promotion of the acquisition, development, and use of both ASL and English for academic purposes for deaf and hard of hearing students as well as their parents and educational staff 
  • Training for educational staff in the strategic use of ASL and English as languages of instruction in educational settings 
  • Promotion of an understanding and appreciation of language and cultural diversity

  • These strategies could be easily incorporated into any deaf classroom. I think it is important for children to have a good solid foundation in English for academic purposes even if they use ASL as their main mode of communication. I think this is what we have been taught to do all along. However, if we do have a child who uses ASL I think it is important to be fluent in both and to have an appreciation for the language and the culture itself.

    2 comments:

    1. I like your break down of what the program is. And I agree with you, I didn't know about this until we had this assignment and I am very excited to hear about it! I also agree with you fully about using these strategies in our classroom. The languages that we use with these kiddos are SO important and I feel like there are definitely advantages to knowing about both of them. I also feel very strongly about other professionals in the child's environment having a good base of the two languages. My heart drops every time I hear the sentence, "well what if you are the only person in that child's life that can communicate with them?" I do not feel like these kiddos should be restricted to just one person who knows their language and I think it is our job to help incorporate other professionals in the language environment for the kids.

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    2. Your presentation of the key elements of the program was good. I like how you presented the information. It is important to have a strong base for both ASL and English. Often this provides a challenge in teaching students reading and writing skills. The Shared Reading Project would be a good tool in incorporate ASL storytelling and English print. What other strategies did you find?

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